Holland and the World Cup

The madness of the World Cup has never been fully understood or recognized by Americans. Americans fail to see the importance of this international sport that most countries call football and not soccer. I got little tastes here and there of this fever known as the World Cup in my latin household. I grew up with my Sunday mornings dedicated to watching my dad play soccer in Oakland. It was a ritual accompanied by going to church. I was a devoted follower of my father, admiring him from the sidelines thinking My dad is the best player of the whole team. It is a strange sensation to look at this same old man age...but I am getting off topic.

The madness of the World Cup in Holland was like nothing I had ever seen for soccer before. Even those Sunday mornings cheering my father from the sidelines. Watching other fans yell and scream in Spanish could never amount to the thrill of the World Cup that I experienced from the moment I was in Europe. What a great time to go! The whole world united under this common goal of watching and supporting their team. It was a union of brotherly competition that brings the world together! I love that. I love that differences within countries dissipate and people come together for this beautiful sport.

I can't lie and say that I watch futbol religiously or even know the different teams. I know a little bit here and there but not enough to say I know anything worthwhile. There was a little girl in me that frothed from the ashes when I was in Amsterdam that watched with all the thrill I used to feel watching my papito play. So I screamed and yelled as if I was   a lifetime faithful to the Holland team. I wore my oranje (orange in Dutch) shirt and I supported "my" team to the end. After all, I was in Holland and Holland has always been good to me.
Anyway, I have so many photographs from the World Cup games leading to the semi-finals, the semi-finals, and the final itself. Sadly, Holland didn't win but in any case there is always the next championship. Hup, Holland Hup!

I have not dedicated myself to editing all the photos of this amazing experience but I want to share some with you all. From the Holland vs Uruguay game:

My Hermanita, Joanna

My friend Siemen

Celebration!

Save the toilet paper

Winners!

Madness in the streets

Many hours later...still celebrating victory into the finals:

P.S. Don't forget to support my new endeavor FCC.

Riding About It

Oh hello everyone, I am (finally) here to show you images from my bike ride from Amsterdam to Antwerp. Ok so there are a few things I should mention. I know it is a SUPER late update but this was impossible to avoid. For one, I lost my backpack (promise this story is coming) and inside it was my journal which had detailed documentation of my trip and now I must rely entirely on memory but now the issue I am facing is that as time continues forward, the less accurate my memories become. Secondly, I have been so insanely busy taking care of personal matters that it has left little time to update my blog. Also please check out my new goal, I am ready to repeat this trip and take myself a little further...ok, a lot further than last time.

On the bright side, I got a lot of great shots but I am selfish and I think I will only share a few. I am thinking that I might link up my blog with some sort of photo viewing site so that I can share more pictures (uploading pictures here is a little annoying) and then you can make comments on singular images. Any suggestions of what I can use? In the past I used photobucket but I don't know if there is something out there that is better.

So without any further hold ups, here are my most beloved images with captions:

Day 1: Commencing the journey

Obviously, since I am in another country there are different types of warning signs for cars, pedestrians, and bikes. Now in retrospect, I really wish I had taken the time to photograph each one that I liked but unfortunately I didn't. Between you and me, I really hate looking like such a tourist photographing everything I see! Anyway, the sign that you see on the left is one of my favorites because the man is wearing a hat. I mean, how cute is that? A figure in a sign wearing a hat?! Makes me think of Magritte's Son of Man. At the time that I saw this sign I had no idea what the top part of the sign said until I used my magical language powers to decipher it (ok, ok it was google translator) it reads, "No Admittance". I am not sure if they are talking about people or cars but in any case. I walked on the pathway, innocently, to look at the house that had been converted from an old castle (image #2).

Cool, huh? Cooler still is that it had it's own personal draw bridge not because of a moat but due to the fact that a canal ran behind it and boats have to be able to pass through (image #3). The man in the image is bridge keeper, meaning he had to lift the bridge each time that a boat was trying to get by, the boat pays him €2, and they are able to pass. This man was the first experience I had with a Dutch person that did not speak English. And from what I learned, many people in the countryside don't necessarily speak English unlike the Amsterdamers (as they call themselves). 

These were the first images that I took outside of Amsterdam and I have to admit that the Dutch landscape is quaint and tranquil, just as I always imagined it being. There were plenty of windmills and dairy cows...and endless farm landscapes. For being such a small country it does have a lot of open spaces.

A little bit about American History, New York before being New York was actually New Amsterdam. Why you may ask? Well, the answer is very simple, during the colonization of the United States the Dutch actually had colonies in the present-day New York area. In fact, much of the area stretching from present day New York to Rhode Island was under Dutch control and was initially called New Netherland (Nieuw Nederland in Dutch). Therefore some names in this area, take for instance Harlem, are carbon copy names from Dutch cities that already existed at the time--Harlem was once upon a time spelled Haarlem, until the English took control of the area. Anyway, the following images were taken in an abandon warehouse in Breukelen, pronounced like Brooklyn (Get it? It was Dutch too). I just really like this location...I love the look and feeling of abandonment because in truth, what appears to be abandoned is never truly ignored. Mariana Philosophy 101.

Day 2: Exiting Holland and entering Belgium

As much as I would love to remember the name of this little town, I don't know it. In fact, even if I looked on a map, I probably could not remember the name. Sadly, this is some of the information that I lost along with my journal (don't worry like I said this comes in a later posting). At least I have some images to remember the location.

Don't you just love the bike road? I am in love with Holland's bike roads. 

Near the border with Belgium, there were many strawberry farms near the bike road. I could smell the strong scent of strawberries as I rode along. This was far too tempting and what better reward after riding for many hours than to enjoy the sweet little perfections sold at this particular location, if I am not mistaken is somewhere between Rijsbergen and Zundert.

 

View Larger Map

Anyway, look at the beautiful and perfect little strawberries below that were super cheap (only €2) for a large basket. I had bought a jar of jam but when I arrived into Antwerp, I broke the jar. Sad face. I was going to bring this jar with me back home remember these strawberries and possibly share with my family but I didn't even get to keep it in my possession for a day and I think the most I tasted of it was a tablespoon because I could not bare to throw the whole jar away without trying a little bit.

Crossing the Belgium border...

Day 3: Arriving in Antwerp

We all know how much I love graffiti.

This is the Cathedral of Our Lady

Statue of Barbo in Grote Markt

This is the lovely Ellenita, my sweet friend and penpal. She is the one I am referring to in my past blog Thoughts on a Flight Black version 2.0. This girl is rockin' fun and probably one of the sweetest persons one could ever meet! I miss her so much and I can't wait until she comes to visit me in California. Ellenita, I know you are reading this...see I put this in a blog so now everyone knows you will be here so you better come!!

And so these are the images I have to share of bike trip from Amsterdam to Antwerp (which by the way is spelled Antwerpen in Vlaams aka Flemish in English). I have a gazillion images on my hard drive but if I posted all of them, it would take me hours of storytelling and editing. If I told you how long I have been working on this blog, you wouldn't even believe it and I know it doesn't seem like much. In any case, my time in Belgium was much too short and I am determined to visit again and see more of it. I hear that Gent (Ghent) is amazing and I want to go to Bruxelles (Brussels) to visit the Magritte Museum, and more importantly, I want to see my friend Ellenita again in her element. Maybe by then I will be speaking the secret language Dutch, although you should know that the people of northern Belgium speak Flemish not Dutch as I have been kindly told. Amai!

So what images are in store for us next? Amsterdam and the World Cup Finals. Until next time!

Hup Holland Hup

It is a shame to think that I am horrible at live updating. Amsterdam has been absolute chaos during these weeks due to the World Cup. It is a shame that I did not witness the historic event of them being champions but I have to admit that it was fun nonetheless. Today the Holland team returns and there will be a parade going through the canals and ending in Museumplein, if I am not mistaken. Therefore as much as I would love to share photos and stories of my Dutch adventures right now you'll have to satisfy yourself with a cute picture because I need to get myself out of the house and celebrate! Dag (Bye)!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Oh bad, bad, bad Mariana! I did not take as many photos as I wanted to...I want to list my excuses here but there really are none. My problem in Europe is that it was my first time there and though the natural tourist wants to snap every possible photo they can take, as a photographer naturally I am first an observer. How can I take it all in if I am behind my camera? There is so much to see and do, there was no possible way I could capture it all on lens.
Amsterdam was beautiful but super cold! I don't think this California girl was quite prepared for a winter wonderland like this especially being in warm tropical Nicaragua only three days prior.
I saw many interesting things, such as the infamous Red Light District which I found to be fun and curious being that you can't see anything 'round these parts. There is also a lot of art in Amsterdam. I visited many museums, including the Van Gogh Museum, The Anne Frank House, and Rijksmuseum...I also went to Den Haag to a museum there (oops don't remember the name**just informed it is Gemeentemuseum) with my dear friend John who was also my lovely host.
I have to admit that I am really looking forward to going again but hopefully when it's just a tad bit warmer!
So without further ado, Amsterdam...proost!